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William Shakespeare: A Biography PDF

518 Pages·1963·57.22 MB·English
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WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Books by A. L. Rowse RALEGH AND THE THROCKMORTONS THE ENGLAND OF EUZABETH I THE EXPANSION OF ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND THE ELIZABETHANS AND AMERICA Sm RICHARD GRENVILLE OF THE REVENGE TUDOR CORNWALL THE EARLY CHURCHILLS THE LATER CHURCHILLS THE USE OF HISTORY THE SPmiT OF ENGLISH HISTORY THE ENGLISH SPmiT THE ENGLISH PAST THE END OF AN EPOCH ALL SOULS AND APPEASEMENT POEMS OF A DECADE POEMS CHIEFLY CORNISH POEMS OF DELIVERANCE POEMS PARTLY AMERICAN A CORNISH CHILDHOOD WEST COUNTRY STORIES ST. AUSTELL: CHURCH, TOWN, PARISH A HISTORY OF FRANCE By Lucien Romier. Translated and completed WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: THE FLO WEI~ I'OHTI{AIT WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE A Biography BY A. L. ROWSE Palgrave Macmillan !963 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1963 ISBN 978-1-349-00317-4 ISBN 978-1-349-00315-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-00315-0 Preface IT is usual to preface a book on Shakespeare with an apology for adding to the number, and I had every intention of adhering to the custom. My hope was, as an historian, to be able to illuminate at least the history plays, the inspiration and treatment of England's past, by the most historically minded of dramatists. But this approach to Shakespeare's life and work, and their rela- tion to the age, has produced discoveries that have astonished me, shed light upon problems hitherto intractable, produced results which might seem incredible, if it were not for the consideration that this is the first time that an historian of the Elizabethan period has tackled them. It stands to reason that someone who has spent a lifetime studying the period and the social life of Shakespeare's time should have something to contribute, and for a number of years I have had this book in mind in my researches. All the same, I am overwhelmed by what historical investigation, by proper historical method, has brought to light. It has enabled me to solve, for the first time, and definitively, the problem of the Sonnets, which has teased so many generations and led so many people into a morass of conjecture. The key to the resolution of their problems, all of which are now cleared up - except for the identity of Shakespeare's mistress, which we are never likely to know - has been to follow strict historical method and establish a firm dating and chronology. This is an indispensable foundation for the structure of any biography of Shakespeare, and it is precisely here that an historian has most to offer. But the establishment of a firm chronology, with a close study of what was happening at the time, year by year, has resulted in an unhoped-for enrichment of the contemporary content and experience that went into a number of the plays, particularly of the earlier and more obscure period. I have, for the first time, been able to establish the date and the occasion of A Midsummer-Night's Dream, with what follows as to the conception of the play. Love's vii William Shakespeare Labour's Lost has hitherto been a play to which the key has been missing ; a flood of light pours in, when one realises that an im- portant element of it is a skit on the Southampton circle by an intimate member of it. The environment of feud and duelling in Romeo and juliet has its contemporary connotations very close to this same circle. The relation of The Merchant of Venice to the Lopez affair is well known. But it is not only with regard to the early plays that a knowledge of the circumstances and events of Shake- speare's time has yielded results - the same holds good for such a problematical play as Troilus and Cressida, or such a political play as Coriolanus. The historian is deeply indebted to the work of the literary scholars - we each have the strengths and the defects of our respec- tive disciplines: our work is complementary. I am immensely indebted, as all who tackle the subject must be, to the indispensable work of Sir Edmund Chambers, most massive (though not the most perceptive) of Shakespearean scholars, to the expertise and detective genius of Sir Walter Greg. What giants they were ! But to these I should like to add the name of the admirable anti- quarian, Edgar Fripp, who added so much to our knowledge of the Stratford and Warwickshire background, whose love gave him per- ceptive insights often denied to the more academic, and these much outweigh the nai'vete of some of his judgments. My obligations are numerous : first and foremost to the Hunt- ington Library in California, and to All Souls College, Oxford. The Huntington Library exemplifies that marriage between history and literature which I strongly hold by myself, and which can be so fruitful. Some part of what I owe to the companionship there I express in my dedication ; but I should like to thank Dr. John E. Pomfret and Professor Allan Nevins for their constant encourage- ment and support. I am especially indebted to Professor Richard Hosley's discriminating judgment and expert scholarship on the Elizabethan stage. In England I am grateful to Professor F. P. Wilson for his Elizabethan conversation over the years, and for so kindly submit- ting to hear read the crucial chapters on the Sonnets and the surrounding plays ; and to my old friend John Garrett, for his invitations year after year to lecture at the Anglo-American summer conferences at Stratford, from which I much profited, in seeing the plays, and getting to know that endearing town and countryside with fair familiarity. All English folk of my generation owe a viii Preface great obligation to our Shakespearean actors, above all to Sir John Gielgud for his inner understanding of Shakespeare, and to Sir Laurence Olivier and Dame Edith Evans ; in addition I am indebted to the perceptive conversation of Robert Speaight. I am greatly obliged to the Duke of Portland for all the trouble he took over his portraits of the Earl of Southampton and his mother, and for so generously having them photographed for me. And to Mr. Robert Wark, Curator of the Huntington Art Gallery, for his help over locating these portraits. A chief obligation over this book is to Professor Jack Simmons of the University of Leicester, who, amid the pressure of many duties, found time to read my manuscript. I cannot sufficiently express what my book owes to his critical acumen, his forceful judgment, the admirable suggestions of his combined scholarship and sensibility. A. L. ROWSE THE HUNTINGTON LIBRARY SAN MARINO, CALIFORNIA 4th December 1962 1X CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE vii CHAPTER I. ELIZABETHAN WARWICKSHIRE I II. STRATFORD TOWN 14 III. FAMILY: SCHOOL: CHURCH 30 IV. YouTH AND MARRIAGE 48 v. LONDON: THE ARMADA YEARS 59 VI. APPRENTICESHIP 76 VII. REPUTATION 96 VIII. THE EARLY CoMEDms 121 IX. FRIENDSHIP 138 X. THE STORY OF THE SONNETS 161 XI. RoMANCE AND REALITY 201 XII. ENGLAND's PAsT 233 XIII. THE LATE NINETffiS 276 XIV. BETWEEN Two WoRLDS 316 XV. THE GREAT TRAGEDms 366 XVI. THE RoMANCEs 409 XVII. NEW PLACE 444 NoTES 467 INDEX 479 Xl

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